In the Metro interface, hover your mouse over the Zoom icon that appears in the lower right corner of the screen. The Charms bar should then pop up displaying several icons. Moving your mouse up the screen will reveal the names of each icon, including Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. Click the Settings icon and then the Power Icon. You should see three options: Sleep, Restart, and Shut down. Clicking Shut down will close Windows 8 and turn off your PC.

This reporting is terrible. In my opinion, the real rationale was because it didn't mesh well Metro or touch screens. Keeping the Start menu around would have caused two divergent paths to access the PC. While it is unlikely anyone would be confused, it would not move people towards Microsoft's goal of having widespread adoption of Metro, allowing them to remain in their comfort zone. Microsoft is going to shove tiles down our throats, whether we like them or not. And maybe they aren't so bad .

The previous poster is correct. This is fine. Modern systems recognize the press of the power button and issue a 'shutdown now' command, which starts the shutdown process. The RESET button is what you don't want to hit on a desktop, and don't want to HOLD DOWN the Power button on a laptop (or desktop).

Umm... it isn't? What is the difference? Except for OLDER PCs, and I do mean really, really old PCs, there is no difference. Unless you speaking of maybe some Sleep mode?

Look, let's summarize:

1. PRESS Power button - Issues Shutdown command that starts the PC Shutdown process that results in an *eventual* power off. The same 'blocks' will still apply (e.g the screen that pops up saying , so and so has not saved its work, or flushing of disk caches).

2. HOLD DOWN Power button - FORCES an IMMEDIATE shutdown - UNSAFE.

3. Press Reset button (if your desktop PC even still has one) - does an immediate unsafe restart (power off, then back on).

Otherwise, we're probably just talking about different things. You may mean 'immediate power off'. To protect users from themselves, this is not as easy at it used to be. You have to hold down the power button, flip a switch on the PSU (if there is one), use the reset button (if there is one), or unplug the darn thing.

Right, and as I elaborate above, these days pressing the Power Off button doesn't do what it used to .. unless you are speaking of the on/off switch on the PSU (if it has one). I edited above, to clarify. I think we're just talking tomatos tomatoes. You had said, "don't press the Power Off button while writing critical files", but it doesn't turn off immediately - as of many years ago. Like I said, it issues a message to all applications, indicating a shutdown in process. Then, after all caches are flushed, files saved, etc.. proceeds with shutdown. In the case of a 'blocker', e.g. a file with unsaved work not closed, the behavior is the same as if the user had pressed 'Shutdown' via the OS interface.

How long ago did the change happen? It's been a long time now.. 10 years?

EDIT: But I do get you point, everyone does... UNSAFE, IMPROPER immediate shutdowns via IMMEDIATE loss of power is always unsafe.

I think you meant IMPROPER shutdown. ;p As I said, tomatos tomatoes, but we all get the point. The only correction was in your statement about hitting the Power Button. It doesn't do an immediate 'turn off'.

P.S. If your POWER OFF button does NOT issue a SHUT DOWN command the SAME AS if the user had pressed 'Shut down' via the OS interface, then be sure you didn't accidentally wire it to the RESET button ;p.

EDIT: Also check BIOS settings, as sometimes there may be an option there on how to handle this.

That's true. However, I would argue that the vast majority are 'set to' these days, especially with that being the default configuration. Now, for older PCs, who knows.. and I have no idea how many are running ancient systems.

I get your point, we all do.. but by the same token, people should realize (or check to see) if their power button is the same as doing a manual shutdown. In these cases, saves a click or two ;p.

Well, I wouldn't tell them to 'risk it' by hitting the power button ONCE and BRIEFLY and seeing what happens... BUT, if they bought their PC new any time in the last 5 years and did NOT tweak any advanced settings, then I'd be pretty confident in it working right.